Fee to Pay: UK law Comes down on EA’s Dungeon Keeper Cash Shop

When EA released a free-to-play Dungeon Keeper title on iOS and Android last year, there was substantial backlash from the gaming community. The game’s balance was drastically altered from previous iterations to facilitate the sale of premium in-game currency, and that resulted in some harsh words from players, reviewers, and even Peter Molyneux — the lead designer of the original game. Now, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK has ruled that EA cannot simply market Dungeon Keeper as a free game. Instead, more explicit language regarding the limitations of free gameplay will be required going forward. Hopefully, this decision will impact the free-to-play industry on the whole, and make way for stricter regulations around the world.


In its ruling, the ASA said that EA violated three rules of the UK’s “CAP code,” and the specific advertisement in question cannot be used again. In future ads, EA must clearly state the “limitations of free gameplay,” and explain the “role of in-app purchasing with regard to speeding up gameplay.” This is good news for consumers in the UK, but what does this mean for everyone else? Will similar restrictions make their way to the US or other countries?

In the US, there are a number of laws against false or misleading advertising on the state and federal level. While these laws were traditionally used for print or television advertising, some laws are written broadly enough to cover online advertising as well. For example, the California Unfair Competition Law covers all “unfair, deceptive, untrue or misleading advertising,” so it wouldn’t be surprising to see similar challenges here in the states. Once the lawsuits start rolling in, we can at least expect large companies like EA to clean up their act.

Of course, this doesn’t spell the end of free-to-play games. Games like League of Legends and Dota 2 are increasingly popular on the PC, Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga are regularly the top-grossing mobile apps, and even the consoles are getting in on the free-to-play land grab. Truth be told, there’s a lot to like about the à la carte business model. Dozens — even hundreds of hours of enjoyment can be had without spending one cent on many free-to-play games, and some players can profit from these titles as well. It all comes down to how the game is designed and marketed to consumers. As long as publishers are up-front about fees and restrictions, the market will sort itself out.

While many consumers long for the days when games were sold as complete products, the industry is growing increasingly hostile to full-price games without an additional revenue stream in place. Staunch holdouts like Nintendo are developing new revenue models, and Valve, Microsoft, and Sony are focusing more on games as a service. This ruling will definitely help to protect consumers from fraud, but the games industry is changing fast, and nothing is going to stop the march towards flexible pricing.